A blog about teaching babies and toddlers under the age of 5. Sharing my own experiences with the world and hoping to inspire other parents to take this wonderful journey with their own children.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Massage your baby/toddler why it is important.

Hi Everyone,

Today I thought I would focus on some of the things I have been doing with My DD2 on these early months between sleeps.

Smart Start is a book I purchased through Gymbaroo a program on how physical development helps develop brain function in tots. The founder Margaret Sasse used to work with children who had learning difficulties and after much research into their early childhood she discovered that many of the children missed critical stages of their physical development. She developed this programme to help young children to go through each stage of development and therefore not be hindered academically when they go to school.

Anyhoo I have taken Sophia through this program and now I will be taking Anneliese through it to but I have been using this book to help me get a head start to her physical program.

One of the things I have been doing a lot of is massage and talking to Anneliese about her body. Massage helps with the strengthening of nervous system and aids neurological development it speeds up mylenation of the nerves also helps strengthen the muscles. Any way back to what I do. When I massage her I talk to he about each part of her body. I start by saying Mummy is now massaging your shoulders and your chest and now im massaging your tummy. Always in a gentle and calm voice. Once I finish massaging her tummy I go back to her shoulder and work my way down her arm. I always say which arm I am massaging. "Mummy is massaging your left arm, and now your left hand and fingers" and I do the same with her right side as well.

This allows her to get to know her body but also allows her to get an understanding of where she starts and where she ends.

Massaging also is a great way to bond with your child. It allows the both of you to have some special time at the end of the day and for you and your baby to relax together.

Here is a link to a great website about baby massage http://www.infantmassage.org.au/